Author: c.mejia

I will Survive… I will Surviiiiive!

Image source

Ark Survival Evolved is a online game that goes against the typical stereotypes of white or male (or both) dominance in the world. This is a game about SURVIVING in the wild, surrounded by dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures where you have to build a camp and collect your own food in order to stay alive. On this game you get to choose the gender of your character and even the clothes that you would like them on.

Unlike most of the online games, Ark Survival shows the characters with a neutral look, they don’t look explicitly white with light eyes. Also, they don’t show that dominance or discrimination over any other race, or gender; they use dinosaurs as their objects to achieve their goals.

This game also connects people from around the world. While you playing, you can interact over the microphone with other players. You can guess their gender because of their voice but you won’t necessarily know their race; but that won’t matter to you because you are trying to achieve the same goal in the game, survive. And this will bring more people from different places, races and cultures to interact. This is the perfect example of what Frank Schaap shows in his article when an studio professor was asked : “What would be your ultimate online gaming experience?” and he answered: “I’d like to be able to play with friends scattered all around the world. I’d like sufficient tools to interact with them in ways that didn’t feel forced”

This idea of how people perceive (players) and also create (programers) is what Lisa Nakamura calls “cybertype”. According to her article, cybertype describes the distinctive ways that the internet propagates, disseminates and commodifies images of race and racism. Which in this case, for Ark Survival, the lines between race and gender are being eliminated.

  1. How many other games let you pick the gender of your character?
  2. Do you believe that Ark Survival is a door for the end of racism in the virtual world?

All the good, has a negative side

As an entrepreneur I’m fascinated by how social media has helped create marketing for my services at no cost. Not only that but it has helped me reach out to people that doesn’t even live in the U.S. Even though, with marketing, it’s hard sometime to go on the right direction, it is worth to take the risk. Here is this article of “The 10 laws“ that can help you be successful while doing so. This media revolution has just began and it is going to bring new ideas, markets, and connections.

Marketing in social media is definitely an aspect that I would like to see grow and expand. This has opened a platform for a lot of people like me to get recognized around the world. However, every new idea brings negative aspects as well. Like for example, if I post some pictures of my work (makeup / dancing), on my Instagram page, somebody can easily access it and use it. Instagram or other platforms doesn’t really require you to give credits to the owner of the sources. You can easily screenshot an image and use it for anything you want, chances are the owner won’t even realized.

This is what happened to James Jollay, when a major international company stole one of her images. Marie Claire magazine, a very well known brand in the fashion/style industry has stolen and posted an image that belong to Jollay. Take a look at the article and what Jollay had to say.

I believe that is great  that many other people enjoy social media and are able to share their ideas, work, and services but at the same time this information needs to be protected. For example, Facebook now has copyright laws that won’t let you upload any music videos without crediting the owner. They can be your own videos, but if it has a soundtrack on the background, you have to credit the owner or the creator of the source. Here is an article of why Facebook needed to do that. If I can create a law, I will follow Facebook steps and apply it to other social media platforms. Everyone’s work need to be protected not matter how “small” or “big” the information is. Platforms like Instagram need to come up with a set of rules that explain how to give credit to the original creators  and videos, so it is not easy for other to steal ideas or images. If this is done, everyone would be free and encourage to share their ideas because they will feel their information is secured.

  1. Have you steal images from Instagram or other platforms to use them for your own benefit or purposes?
  2. How would you feel if a big corporation features your images/work on their account?

Image source

We have studied before how our “private” information is not so private and we have learned how our data is being shared, manipulated and even sold. This article by  Collen shows us a few examples of how everything we do online is taking a different path.  It also explains the interrelation between the economic system and the government, how Many platforms that we use on our everyday life are disclosing and sharing what we search or post on the web. For example when the dad was upset because he received coupons for baby’s clothes, diapers, accessories but it was because the daughter was pregnant and  searched for baby’s bottles. This is an example of how the privacy of that individual was violated. What if she didn’t want the dad to know about her pregnancy yet?. Oh well, the companies need to sell and they don’t care about that.

This takes us to the point that, the more power you have , the more access you get. If you work for the FBI or any surveillance agency, is not so difficult to get any kind of information for any purpose. But if you are a regular civilian, you don’t have that privilege. But then the information gathered by these surveillance agencies is not benefiting us, in fact it is negatively impacting our well-being and limiting our freedom.

The facts:

  1. How the FBI or surveillance agencies can retrieve information from a data base even when you have deleted everything. Any information we delete, will be invisible to us but never gone to these agencies.
  2. How the government can red-flag anything you search for example the writer that looked up ” how to kill my wife” and “decapitated”.
  3. The twit from the guy that talked about destroying America and he was actually detained in the airport for hours to be interrogated.

Here is an excellent article by Aaron Couch about rules that we need to follow when sharing information.

  1. If you had the power, what constitutional law would you create to protect civilians rights?
  2. As a civilian, Do you know what actions can you take towards the information that is being shared and sold to other agencies?

Would you mind cheaper trips and free movies?

Image Source

Technology has brought us incredible ways to reach out information by just a click. Unfortunately this information can also be about what we like, what we don’t like, where are we and where we will be. And this doesn’t necessarily make our lives too “private”.

The last example I can think of about market surveillance was 2 days when planning my trip for spring break. I have an app on my phone called “Skyscanner” (it is also a website) where you can find really good deals for round trip flights in the US and internationally. The good thing about it is that all the info that I put when I was doing my search will be saved,(such as dates, places that I will like to visit, prices that I’m willing to pay, etc). And by that, they will inform me if the prices go down, go up, alternative deals, etc. As you can see my inbox below.

Image Source: Myself (screenshot of my inbox)

To me it is an excellent way to find the best deals since I’m not on my phone 24 hours checking for flights and all these endless destinations. And this doesn’t happen just to me, this pattern happens to many other users of this app with their respective search data. So basically Skyscanner is doing exactly what Mark Andrejevic explained, “ There is a pattern: the use of new media devices lends itself to the generation or cybernetic information, feedback about the transactions themselves”.(Page 3). Andrejevic argues that this feedback “becomes the property of private companies that can store, aggregate,sort and sell information in the form of database”. (Page 3). And that is exactly what happened with the info I put in for my trip.  Although some people might think this is a negative effect  because it violates privacy, I see it as a helpful tool that helps me narrow my search data and provide me with the best deals.

Then we have state surveillance which also plays an important role in our lives. I agree that somewhere, somehow there is a technique of disciplinary power that won’t allow us to commit crimes. But the most recent example I can give is a website where you were able to watch recent movies for free. The website was 123movies.is , but unfortunately they took it down. Probably a sort of investigation was held and they found out that this website was violating copyright laws. Even though I don’t know the specific method or the agency who discover this website, I can put it as an example for this section. I know I was wrong for entering this website , but it was good to be able to watch a movie on my free time and without paying theater prices. This will probably affirms Michel Foucault belief that “ The major effect of the panopticon is to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power”.(Page 212).  I was watching this website because nobody was there to tell me that it was wrong; but If I knew for sure somebody will accuse me, probably my actions would have been different. I found this article about a similar website that was ban from the internet for publishing movies. This is another example that somehow we are been monitored in the internet to make sure we follow laws and rules.

  1. Would you create an illegal site knowing that you will make great profit out of it?
  2. What do you consider as “invaded privacy”?

O nah nah , What’s my name?

 Image Source: Getty

I interviewed a close friend of mine, Jay Rivera. He graduated from John Jay college with a computer science degree. But he changed the office hours to be a personal trainer and nutritionist. Social media has been a great platform for his business since he was able to promote his services through these different profiles. Today he mainly uses facebook and instagram (@jaygoya) and owns a website (jfitnyc.com). Even though he is licensed by New York State, and all his  certificates are veridical, he doesn’t use his real name on his social media profiles. According to him is just a way to attract people, is a marketing strategy. So that’s why he decided to go from Jay Rivera to J-Goya. For some of you non-spanish speakers, “Goya” is a seasoning that most Hispanics use in almost all their food. And their slogan reads “ Si es goya , tiene que ser bueno” ( If it is Goya, it has to be good). Implying  that if you train with him, the service is going to be great.  This is basically his explanation of why he chose this name. And it is even funny if you were raised in my culture where we all know what Goya is.

On the other hand he doesn’t only have these 2 accounts but he has an older account with Facebook where he has all his family members and old co-workers. The issue he deals with is that he is a little ashamed to add his old coworkers and family members to his personal trainer page because:

  1. The relationship he had with his old coworkers was strictly professional and it was all about business.
  2. Nobody knew that after Jay quit his job at the office, he went into strict training in order to have the body he needed and the preparation this new phase required.
  3. His family members wouldn’t be so comfortable having little Jay  posing shirtless on their Facebook feeds.

So I will say that this transition from a business guy to a more casual personal trainer did have an impact in his life. On one side he is happier because he is doing what he loves but on the other he still has to be a little conservative among his family members and old coworkers. This doesn’t mean it is bad to have different accounts, to me it’s just a way to market specific populations.

 

A great example that agrees with this blog is Atique phrase: “The desire for bodily gratification is the most pressing impulse for social behavior.” (page 70). In the way that Jay will behave accordingly to the responses he will like to receive from his different accounts. The feed backs he received or will receive is what shapes the way he shows himself.

A very important point that Jay might want to take in consideration is that according to Atique “all of these layers of meaning are subject to interpretation by viewers who are inclined to read the messages in different ways according to their own social experiences” (page 52). This means that even though he thinks it is not appropriate for him to be showing up shirtless on his family feeds; it is up to him to educate their family members or even invite them personally to have work out sessions with them. If they had these “social experiences”, their mentality could be different.

A very interesting article also about other weird reasons why people create fake profiles can me found here. Enjoy!

  1. What will be your reaction if your “fake” profile gets suspended forever?
  2. Do having 2 or 3 accounts increases the time you spent on social media? If so, is that a negative effect? Explain.

Will you follow me?

Source: Ariane Osaki

If we go back to early ages, humans always had the need to communicate in order to express their thoughts, needs, information and everything that concerned their society. We evolved from signs language and smoke signals to a more complex vocabulary that not only made communication easier but more efficient for these people. The same is happening now days with social media and all its innovations. Adrian Athique argues on his book that “like in any other era that has come and gone before, the era of new media has brought into being a language of its own” (Page 15).

And then we find a great quote from Couldry that reads: “Media as a term is ambiguous…have become flexible and interconnected enough to make our only starting point the media environment”(Page 2). This argues that we don’t know what is the next idea or innovation since there are no boundaries when it comes to media but we will for sure be affected by it because we LIVE in a digital world. And affected doesn’t necessarily mean in a negative way.

I believe that one great characteristic that social media has brought   is that you can easily market  products, places or services in seconds and for free. Marketing is a key operation for successful businesses and relationships.  Instagram was launched in 2010 and today is considered as “one of the most powerful selling tool”. (Natalie Golding Blog). In this blog by Natalie we see a perfect example of how brands like Lancome, Starbucks, and Ebay have benefited of this “hashtag” social trend.

I am a make up artist and costume designer and for me, Instagram (@touched _by_adrean) has been my platform to show my work. Below you can see some of my videos.

Skull Make up

Medusa Make up and costume

I don’t think that I would have been able to promote myself if we lived in an era without digital media. It is so easy for me now days to just post a pic or a video of my work and get instant responses. Because of this tool, I have been able to work with other artists and create relationships that are beyond what I expected. And of course a great initiative to make some extra coins. All of these are personal examples that agree with what I found on Natalie’s blog about big corporations. This gives me the affirmation that everything you dream of , you can do it. Take advantage of these great platforms that social media offers today.

So, if you are an entrepreneur or you simply would like to promote a service I would recommend you to watch this video about 10 Instagram marketing tips that can make your experience more successful.

  • Have you ever thought of marketing any product or service using social media?
  • How do you think starting entrepreneurs marketed their products or services in the past?